Schulich hosts Behavioural Decision Research Conference, May 6

Schulich School of Business

The Schulich School of Business at York University will host a one-day conference on the latest in behavioural decision research on Friday, May 6.

The 2022 Southern Ontario Behavioural Decision Research Conference will bring together researchers and academics, as well as business practitioners and government officials with an interest in the study of how people make judgments and decisions. The researchers come from a number of academic disciplines, including: marketing, psychology, organizational behaviour, management, accounting, finance and economics.

Alexander Coutts
Alexander Coutts
Peter Darke
Peter Darke

“This conference brings together a broad set of top researchers and providers who have interests in better understanding and improving decision making among both managers and everyday people,” says Peter Darke, professor of marketing at Schulich and one of the conference organizers.

Conference presenters include Alexander Coutts, assistant professor of economics at Schulich, who will talk about his latest research on employee feedback in the workplace, and Saeid Kermani, a Schulich PhD student whose research examines consumers’ evaluations of brands that face social media backlash in response to potentially offensive advertisements and how the emotional tone of negative social media comments can influence these evaluations.

Other conference presentations include: “Instagramable” restaurant meals – how visual characteristics of food relates to consumer decisions to engage with social media content; what motivates employees to accept a reduction in pay with a corresponding reduction in work hours; why recipients don’t appreciate expensive gifts and suspect the gift giver of having ulterior motives; barriers that prevent individuals from seeking professional financial advice; how individuals process probabilities; and why people will contribute more to fundraising projects that are closer to reaching their goals.

The conference has been held annually since 2005 and has been hosted by a variety of universities in Southern Ontario. Learn more about the conference.